Questions about dry food

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B

Bart's Mom

Member Since 2014
I let the other three cats eat dry food, but have still kept Bart on all canned.
I feed Diamond Naturals dry. BArt of course wants to eat the dry too. It's downstairs in the laundry room, and I keep the door closed so he can't go eat it.
So what I'm wondering is, is it possible to let him eat some dry? Such as maybe TOTW?
And if so how long does it have to be between eating dry, and having his insulin?
TIA
 
Hello!

We are decidedly pro wet low carb, for all cats. Have you seen this website by a vet? She explains why it isn't just the carbs in dry food but the lack of moisture in the food. www.catinfo.org

And no, just a little dry can dramatically change the blood glucose levels. Some people find that even giving a few temptation treats raises the levels. If you are trying for regulation or remisssion, you need to keep dry out of the equation.

People here with multiple cats often feed everyone Friskies pate. It is a good cheap food. And it could keep your other cats from developing diabetes. There are a few lower carb dry foods, but they tend to be more expensive that a decent wet food and not nearly as healthful.

If you want other help, give us some more details about your sweet kitty. Type of insulin, dose, are you home testing etc. We'd love to help.
 
I agree with Sue. I am one of those who attributes the dry food supplemented diet that I gave to my cats before I knew better, to a whole host of problems which caused them early deaths. I have never had a cat live longer than 16 years mostly because of renal failure. Once I read about what dry food does to a carnivore cat, I removed it from my house. It's not just about the carbs - it is about the urinary tract and the unhealthy drinking of lots of water to move the dry food through and how it sticks and causes infections. UTI's, diabetes and CRF are IMOO, at epidemic levels due to poor nutrition that has been taught to us by the pet food industry.

Cats do not need dry food to "sharpen their teeth" because they don't have flat teeth for grinding but rather pointed teeth for tearing. Dry food sticks to their teeth causing gum problems so it is a misconception that cats NEED dry food for their teeth. Since Dr. Pierson's vet practice started recommending the removal of all dry food from cat diets, her practice has seen a remarkable decrease in instances of these diseases and problems. I urge you to read about this on catinfo.org as Sue suggests. I don't allow dry food in my house and my cats have survived. I leave pate food out for them during the day and they do just fine grazing on it.
 
Not only would I not feed Bart dry I'd take your other cats off it as well. Not only do I have one diabetic who will celebrate 4 years insulin free on a diet change alone, I have one that went from 11 u bid to .5u and one that was on 7u bid to .1u simply by removing dry but I also have 14 civies and the changes in them when we switched everyone off dry. My chunky ones became sleek, my skinny minis gained and the two kittens at the time of the switch have the most gorgeous coats you'll ever see. They are so sleek and shiney they look wet like a seal. The other benefit is we go through less litter because less garbage in , less garbage out

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
Thanks for all the responses!
Bart was diagnosed diabetic in February. He's on ProZinc, 1 unit twice a day. He's also on prednisolone. 1.5mg twice a week. The pred is what caused his diabetes. He has stomatitis.
I was feeding all the cats all Friskie's canned pate's as soon as BArt was diagnosed. But I have a very picky Siamese girl, Molly, who barely touches her canned. Then I have Sylvester the Bengal, who is getting older and grumpy, and has kinda gone off the canned.
I tried switching to Fancy Feast pate's, and he's still turning his nose up.
Then I also have Garfield, Barts overweight brother, also on pred for stomatitis. And has not lost any weight depsite being on an all canned food diet,. He has a very ravenous appetite, even before being on pred.
Hope this helps
 
I have a foster girl that was absolutely convinced she hated canned catfood until I sprinkled it with parmesan cheese now she's the first in line at meal time. Several "toppings" that are useful with picky eaters...Parmesan cheese, Fortiflora (my meezer would eat dirty socks full of dog poop if they're covered in it..lol), tuna flakes or juice, & catnip.

Mel and The Fur Gang
 
MommaOfMuse said:
I have a foster girl that was absolutely convinced she hated canned catfood until I sprinkled it with parmesan cheese now she's the first in line at meal time. Several "toppings" that are useful with picky eaters...Parmesan cheese, Fortiflora (my meezer would eat dirty socks full of dog poop if they're covered in it..lol), tuna flakes or juice, & catnip.

Mel and The Fur Gang
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Thanks :-D
 
If you were to feed a diabetic cat dry food, there wouldn't need to be a delay until the insulin. In fact you'd want/need the insulin on board to offset the effects the dry food had on them.

I feel your pain of having dry food eaters in a house with a diabetic. We have younger cats that we simply cannot wean off of hard food. Tried it for 9 months, and with their history coming from a hoarder its not worth the trauma on them. Our diabetic foster is CRAZY for food. But he is also the poster boy for not feeding a diabetic hard food. His first test when I brought him home was 404. That evening was in the 300s. The shelter had been feeding him both wet and dry Wellness CORE. I only fed him once that first night so he only got wet. The next morning he was in the mid-200s and after seeing that kind of drop I didn't feed him dry again. We brought him home on April 18th on 2U of Lantus 2X a day, he is getting 0.25U 2X a day now and will likely be off of the insulin early next week. As much as they crave the dry and as easier as our lives would be to let them have it, its just not worth it for their health. Diabetics just don't process dry food the way other cats do.
 
Thnaks Melanie and Smokey. I see your point

Just curious how everybody feeds? Do you have certain meal times, and number of meals?
Right now I feed Bart and everybody else at 5am, then Bart gets his shot at 7:30 and he eats then.
Then I feed everybody at noon, and about 4ish, then Bart's next shot is at 7:30, and everynody eats again.
I was thinking about cutting out the noon meal and feed the non sugar cats, and Bart at 5am and 4pm and also feed Bart with his insulin.
Also does he need to eat with his shot?
 
hi, and welcome, barts mom, and bart :)
i wanted to ask a question. hope its ok. i think it was robin who said it...about drinking a lot of water due to dry food being bad. question is, its ok to add water to wet right? i know a lot of folks say they do it, and its helped me a lot. i probably add about 1/3 as much wet food, in water, to the wet food. it seems to help a lot of issues. tia.
 
Yes, it is OK to add some water to the canned food.

Another trick for conversion is to take a wet food, spread it thinly on a baking sheet, and bake it to a much drier consistency, even crunchy. Then gradually leave it more and more damp with successive batches until they'll eat it straight.
 
I saturate all my canned food offerings. It is much healthier for cats to digest their food and water at the same time. My cats no longer need or use the water bowl - I have to clean the dust out of it every other day.
 
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